In response to the administration’s initiative to increase class size at KCOM, clinical faculty representatives sent a letter to the AOA Committee on Pre-doctoral Education stating their true position, as required by AOA policy. The administration was so furious at the letter that Dr. McGovern stated in a memo to the general faculty that these representatives would “be held accountable”. The clinical faculty representatives who authored the AOA letter (many of whom were tenured faculty) received memos from Drs. McGovern and Kuchera stating they were stripped of all academic rank and would not be offered new contracts to serve at the college. In retribution for stating observations of fact, the administration essentially fired dedicated, experienced individuals who expected to continue teaching. Two of the clinicians involved in the firings, Drs. Michael K. Willman and Jack Bragg, were recently elected to receive student “Teacher of the Year” awards! Tenure should allow faculty to raise concerns about an institution without fear of reprisals, however this is not the case at KCOM. At the October 2000 board of trustees meeting, the basic science representative reported that they, too, do not support a decision to increase class sizes by the college. However, unlike the clinical faculty, they were in no way reprimanded.
Due to the complaint letter, the AOA was required to re-inspect the college. By the time of this inspection, in August 2000, many physicians that represent a large portion of the clinical medicine teaching at KCOM had been essentially exiled from the college. The report of the AOA’s brief, one-day inspection was not made available to the former clinical faculty and the results remain unknown. After a failed appeal by the former clinical faculty to the single AOA inspector sent to Kirksville, a petition in regard to KCOM academic practices and the firing of eight faculty for apparently “whistle-blowing” is now in progress to the Federal Departments of Education and Labor.
